"The Idea of the University as a Hotbed of Revolution Exists Only in the Imagination of the Right"

"There has long been a tension between conservatism and intellectual life, a rift between the right and higher education; as Hofstadter wrote in 1963, 'In a certain sense the suspicious Tories and militant philistines are right: Intellect is dangerous. Left free, there is nothing it will not reconsider, analyze, throw into question.' That may be inevitable. But what is less certain is the extent to which the right-wing critique resonates with the broader society. As participants in the maintenance of economic privilege, universities open themselves up to these attacks from the right and also undercut their own ability to nurture true intellectual freedom. Were universities to do more to actively challenge the harsh inequality that governs so much of our society, the critique of the right would be far less likely to catch on."

Kim Phillips-Fein at The Chronicle of Higher Education discusses "conservative hostility toward universities."